The present invention is directed to a safety device for use in connection with two-component sprayers, for example, for the spray application of paint or lacquer. More particularly, the present safety device automatically and, importantly, without danger of explosion, terminates sprayer operation in the event of a deficiency or interruption in the supply of either of the two components required for proper sprayer operation.
Sprayer safety devices are known to the art. However, such known devices employ electrical pressure sensors that are inserted into the component material supply lines between the pumps and the sprayer mechanism. When a pressure drop is detected in one of the component supply lines during operation of the two-component sprayer, the respective pressure sensor outputs an electrical signal that shuts the entire sprayer off, for example, by closing solenoid valves in the component supply lines.
A significant disadvantage of such prior art safety devices, however, is their known unsuitability for use in potentially explosive environments, for example, the spraying of low ignition temperature materials. Many paints and lacquers fall into this latter category. This unsuitability is based on the ever-present danger of a spark-induced explosion inherent in any electrically excited transducer or actuated system.